ZaTab: ZaReason's Open Tablet

Quite a few options exist
as far as Android tablets
go. Some of them are great choices for personal entertainment and media
consumption. Google's new Nexus 7 is a powerful little beast designed to
serve up media from Google Play. Amazon's Kindle Fire is a great device
for tapping Amazon's extensive content offerings. Undoubtedly, these
tablets were designed to direct more of your money to the tablet-maker's
on-line content marketplaces. The glaring lack of SD card expansion on
these devices confirms this. The ZaReason team designed a tablet that can
be what the user wants it to be—one that supports users' own content,
that is not necessarily tied to a particular content store and
that can be used as far more than a simple consumption device. Have they
succeeded in creating the world's first open tablet? Let's find out.

Stats:

Cyanogenmod 9 Android 4.04.

Allwinner A10 SoC.

9.7" IPS 1024x768 display.

Five-point capacitive touchscreen.

16GB internal storage + microSD for additional storage.

1GB of RAM.

Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n).

Front-facing and back cameras.

Sturdy metal back.

High-capacity 8000 mAh battery.

Ultra-light (630 grams).

Ports:

Headphone.

MicroSD card slot.

MicroHDMI video out.

2x microUSB ports.

As you read over the stats, a few things should catch your
attention. First, the ZaTab comes loaded with Cyanogenmod 9, based on
Android 4.04 Ice Cream Sandwich, and is rooted out of the box. I feel
like I need to say that again—it is rooted out of the box! You can
open a terminal and explore your device with root permissions in
a matter of seconds. There's no need to run an exploit to get root access, no
need to flash another ROM, no voided warranties. Second, there is 16GB
of internal Flash storage for apps and media, and a microSD slot that
can accommodate an additional 32GB of storage. So, there's ample storage for your
content, stored locally, on your device—no need to rely on "the
cloud"
or streaming media services.

Opening the Box

The ZaTab arrived packed well inside a corrugated shipping box, with
bubble wrap surrounding the retail box. The retail box is generic OEM
fare. I would love to see ZaReason produce a branded box for the tablet,
but that is another expense and surely would raise the price. Snuggled
in the box under the tablet, you will find a micro-USB-to-USB cable, a
micro-USB-to-female USB adapter for connecting USB-based accessories,
an A/C adapter and a small generic Android manual. The tablet feels
sturdy but not too heavy—definitely not cheap. Unlike most Android
tablets out there, the casing is not plastic. The back/sides consist of a
solid piece of matte aluminum, with a large ZaReason logo silk-screened on
the back of the unit. The port and button labels also are silk-screened
on the back just below their respective buttons/ports. Along the top
edge, you will find the power button, 5v DC power input, micro-HDMI out,
two micro-USB ports, an 1/8" headphone jack and three small vents
to keep things cool. Along the right edge, you will find a back button,
which takes you to the previous screen in the Android interface, and the
volume up/down buttons. On the back of the ZaTab is a paper-clip-style
recessed physical reset button, the main camera and a small grill
protecting the speaker. The front of the ZaTab is mostly screen with a
1/2" black bezel, with a front-facing camera in the top-right corner.

With those specs? Single core from what I can find of the A10. Low end Mali GPU. 1 GB of RAM? ouch Ports, good. Battery size, good. This is a budget spec'd tablet. I like the open nature of the offer, but it's not worth 350 bucks. This is a Nexus 7/Fire pricepoint device. performance will be less than the N7 and Fire HD but adds the ports and storage upgrade options. But only 32GB supported with 64GB cards becoming very affordable? Another fail. Not a bad deal if it was a couple of hundred bucks. With those specs 150-200 is the range.

Come ON, folks: it's understandable when you're dealing with a phone that you have limited space for expansion, but a *tablet* has way more space, and there is no reasonable excuse not to include a *FULL SIZE* SD/MMC slot. I would like to use SD for *collections* of files (perhaps different projects, different sets of audio/video, etc,), but using MicroSD is just plain unusable in that respect simply because of the miniscule sixe and easy lose-ability of teh storage medium. I'm not asking for PCMCIA, floppy diisk or even CF, but something that you have at least SOME chance of finding when it drops on the floor or falls inside your carrying satchel would be quite appreciated.

Toshiba and Sony use full side SD in their 10" tablets, iirc. Toshiba even included a full size USB port in their Thrive, but went with micro only on the Excite. Note that there are two 10" Excites out there, and the 10LE do not have the full size SD slot.

I have bought ZeniThink A71 (7'', A9) tablet directly from China for $100. It is rooted as well, has similar specification and I can't complain about build quality. The larger C92 (10'') is for $160. Isn't $350 little bit to much?